Help me avoid Charlie Brown's Christmas urns.
November 7, 2011 1:13 PM Subscribe
Help me keep my Christmas greenery upright in my outdoor urns this winter.
I have a couple of shallow urns on the stone pillars outside my house. They are approx 2' wide x 1' deep. I plant annuals in them in the summer. Over the past few years, I've gotten a big box of assorted greenery stems that I stand up in the urns for the holiday season. Ideally, I poke the stems into the soil leftover from the annuals and can get things to stay upright for a few days until the soil freezes. Some of the branches are 3' tall, so we are working against physics, here.
Unfortunately, sometimes, timing and temperatures have not gone well and I am left with a frozen mass of soil that will not accept the stems of the greenery. I've tried thawing with warm water, which did not work and tying a chicken wire blob on top of the urns to poke the greenery into... which is not the best method, either.
Is there something I can replace the dirt in the urns with that will hold my greenery upright, and remove in the spring to replace with dirt for planting?
I have a couple of shallow urns on the stone pillars outside my house. They are approx 2' wide x 1' deep. I plant annuals in them in the summer. Over the past few years, I've gotten a big box of assorted greenery stems that I stand up in the urns for the holiday season. Ideally, I poke the stems into the soil leftover from the annuals and can get things to stay upright for a few days until the soil freezes. Some of the branches are 3' tall, so we are working against physics, here.
Unfortunately, sometimes, timing and temperatures have not gone well and I am left with a frozen mass of soil that will not accept the stems of the greenery. I've tried thawing with warm water, which did not work and tying a chicken wire blob on top of the urns to poke the greenery into... which is not the best method, either.
Is there something I can replace the dirt in the urns with that will hold my greenery upright, and remove in the spring to replace with dirt for planting?
Gravel/rocks of various sizes, decorative or not. They shouldn't really be affected by the temperature, unless water fills in the gap and freezes. Still, easy to mess with.
posted by Madamina at 1:28 PM on November 7, 2011
posted by Madamina at 1:28 PM on November 7, 2011
Best answer: Not to imply that florist foam isn't a freat solution, just brainstorming something different.
You can't lift the heavy stone urns and set them in the garage to thaw out. But you can go out to them and scoop the dirt out now before it freezes. Then when you get your holiday greenery, you wheel the wheelbarrow full of dirt (or whatever conveyance you used) back out of the garage, and refill the urns with the dirt, which you'd been holding at non-freezing temperatures in the garage (or some such)?
If you don't have a garage/mudroom/screen porch kind of messy but freeze-proof area, you could buy non-frozen mulch at the garden center the day you need it, even if it freezes as soon as the planters are assembled.
posted by aimedwander at 1:29 PM on November 7, 2011
You can't lift the heavy stone urns and set them in the garage to thaw out. But you can go out to them and scoop the dirt out now before it freezes. Then when you get your holiday greenery, you wheel the wheelbarrow full of dirt (or whatever conveyance you used) back out of the garage, and refill the urns with the dirt, which you'd been holding at non-freezing temperatures in the garage (or some such)?
If you don't have a garage/mudroom/screen porch kind of messy but freeze-proof area, you could buy non-frozen mulch at the garden center the day you need it, even if it freezes as soon as the planters are assembled.
posted by aimedwander at 1:29 PM on November 7, 2011
Last year my mother-in-law came up with the genius idea of using a long drill bit of the right size to drill holes in the frozen soil to stick her greenery in, deep enough to hold them steady. Worked much better than my plan, which was to wait for the snow to fill my windowboxes, then stick the boughs into the snow, but she didn't tell me what she did until I'd already half-assed my decorating job. In any case, this year the greenery went into the windowboxes as soon as Halloween was past, and not a moment too soon.
posted by padraigin at 1:41 PM on November 7, 2011
posted by padraigin at 1:41 PM on November 7, 2011
You could get some 1/2" screen and bury one sheet a few inches from the bottom, and another just below the surface.
posted by rhizome at 1:51 PM on November 7, 2011
posted by rhizome at 1:51 PM on November 7, 2011
Response by poster: Well smack me in the head, it never occurred to me to just keep the dirt from freezing!
posted by sarajane at 5:23 PM on November 7, 2011
posted by sarajane at 5:23 PM on November 7, 2011
Ha! I thought the drill idea sounded like a lot less work, myself - assuming you've got a huge long drill bit...
posted by aimedwander at 5:48 AM on November 8, 2011
posted by aimedwander at 5:48 AM on November 8, 2011
Ha! I thought the drill idea sounded like a lot less work, myself - assuming you've got a huge long drill bit...
Yeah, as you mention it it occurs to me that maybe not everyone has a huge collection of drill bits in various diameters and lengths available, but I happen to be lucky (?) in this regard.
posted by padraigin at 7:43 PM on November 8, 2011
Yeah, as you mention it it occurs to me that maybe not everyone has a huge collection of drill bits in various diameters and lengths available, but I happen to be lucky (?) in this regard.
posted by padraigin at 7:43 PM on November 8, 2011
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posted by brainmouse at 1:18 PM on November 7, 2011